Categories: Get Started
      Date: Feb 11, 2010
     Title: Get Started Homeschooling Today

Get Started Homeschooling Today

Find a support group, attend a convention, study educational
philosophies, pinpoint your child’s learning style, and choose a
curriculum-many articles geared toward new homeschoolers give
similar advice. However, the regional convention is far away, and
at conventions we have witnessed the glazed eyes of the
overwhelmed, inexperienced mom with her arms loaded with books as
she wanders between vendor booths searching for the "perfect"
curriculum for her family. Support groups are not available in
some areas of the country, or it is difficult to find a group
that shares your philosophy.

In the beginning, we spent hours reading about different
philosophies and children’s learning styles, but ultimately, we
still had no idea how to homeschool our children. The labyrinth
of choices available to the niche market of Christian home
educators is confusing at best and misleading at worst. The
advice we received wasn’t necessarily bad advice, but as new
homeschoolers, we didn’t find it helpful.

At Homeschooling Today magazine, we desire to offer practical
help to our readers. Home education will look different in every
family, and there is no exact formula for everyone, but we have
found certain similarities and particular family habits that
guide our choices and contribute to our success in training our
children. These habits help you start homeschooling. . . . today.

GET LEGAL KNOWLEDGE

First, understand and comply with the homeschool laws of your
state. From Homeschooling Today magazine’s homepage,
www.homeschoolingtoday.com, choose Resources/Organizations/HSLDA
State Laws and select your resident state. If you have concerns
or questions, we recommend that you join the Home School Legal
Defense Association (HSLDA). Your family membership provides a
lawyer who stands ready should anyone challenge your right to
homeschool, supports work to maintain the rights of parents to
educate their children, and contributes to the defense of
persecuted families. It is worth every penny of the reasonable
fee.

Once you have rendered unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,
turn your attention to rendering unto God the things that are
God’s-the children, made in His image, with whom He has blessed
you (Matthew 22:21; Genesis 1:27).

START WITH THE BIBLE

Scripture opens with "In the beginning, God . . ." and our
instruction should begin there. R. C. Sproul, Jr., a regular
columnist for our Father’s Heart department, writes that
Christians are required to teach only three subjects to their
children. He nicknames them the three Gs: who God is, what God
has done, and what God requires.

Some Christians might object to this goal simplification. After
all, shouldn’t we be teaching our children how to get along in
society, how to be hardworking employees, and how to be good
citizens? All that and more is included in the summary of the
commandments- to love God and to love our neighbor.

To teach the three Gs, it should seem obvious that the first and
most important resource is the Bible. Yet it is so obvious that
we often neglect it. Do you have a Bible? Read it together. Study
it. Memorize it. Meditate on it. Apply what you read to everyday
situations. Use it to teach and train your children. Use it to
correct them. As you read it aloud together, investigate what you
are reading. Dr. Ruth Beechick’s excellent book, A Biblical Home
Education: Building Your Homeschool on the Foundation of God’s
Word (B & H, 2007), includes many suggestions for enhancing your
Bible study.

FAMILY WORSHIP

If your family has never enjoyed a regular, daily time together
in God’s Word, you might consider The Family Worship Book: A
Resource Book for Family Devotions by Terry L. Johnson (Christian
Focus, 2003). With practical suggestions including how to
structure your worship time, he offers resources for catechism
and creeds, prayers, Psalms, and Bible reading schedules.
Fathers, this is a particularly appropriate way for you to lead
your family as you begin the adventure of home education. Perhaps
you will lead a family time before or after breakfast, after
dinner, in the evening, or before bed. The logistics are less
important than that you actually implement the time. When you
miss a day or two, as we all do on occasion, just resume leading
it again.

If your children are young, using a story Bible can be helpful.
The Child’s Story Bible by Catherine Vos (Eerdmans, 1983) is our
family favorite. Another great devotional for mothers to use with
younger children is Leading Little Ones to God by Marian M.
Schoolland (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1995). You can find suggestions for
using this book in HST’s July/August 2008 issue in the Lessons
for Little Ones department. Kara uses this book to help our
children form the habit of doing daily lessons with Mom. Even if
you don’t use these particular resources, please do not neglect
this most important, foundational, and overarching study.

A second enjoyable and educational habit that coincides with
Bible reading is singing Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs as a
family (Ephesians 5:19). Even if you are not musical, resources
are available for family music, such as the Genevan Foundation’s
Hymns for Kith and Kin. This audioCD coordinates well with The
Family Worship Book.


READ ALOUD

After establishing a daily habit of coming before the Lord and
looking into His Book, you can think of other ways to teach who
God is, what He has done, and what He requires. Isn’t it amazing
that God has chosen two primary means to communicate about
Himself to us? He uses the Bible and His creation (Psalm 19:1).
God’s use of literature suggests that we, too, should value it in
our family life. The next priority is to establish the habit of
reading-reading aloud as a family and children reading
independently when they are ready. In what is becoming a modern
classic homeschooling resource, Honey for a Child’s Heart, Gladys
Hunt writes:

That is what a book does. It introduces us to people and places
we wouldn’t ordinarily know. A good book is a magic gateway into
a wider world of wonder, beauty, delight, and adventure. Books
are experiences that make us grow, that add something to our
inner stature. Children and books go together in a special way. I
can’t imagine any pleasure greater than bringing to the
uncluttered, supple mind of a child the delight of knowing the
many rich things God has given us to enjoy. Parents have this
wonderful privilege, and books are their keenest tools
(Zondervan, 2002, emphasis added). We have used this book of
books to lead us to some of our favorite works of literature. Our
copy is well-marked. A checkmark signifies we have read that
book. A highlighted title indicates we have the book in our
family library.

If you would like more description of individual books and a
wider variety of reading levels and subject areas, try The Book
Tree: A Christian Reference for Children’s Literature by
Elizabeth McCallum and Jane Scott (Cannon, 2001). This
mother/daughter team offers a good description of literature,
including biographies, for children from preschool through high
school.

COVERING CONTENT

These two resources suggest books from many content
areas-literature, history, biography, science, poetry, and so on.
In addition to learning directly from nature, we also like to
read other books on God’s creation. A multitude of books teach
science concepts in an enjoyable way. As we read, we also use the
important method given to us in Scripture for teaching our
children-we talk (Deuteronomy 6:6). Discussion is simple and
vital for biblical learning, but it is easy to overlook in our
schedule.

In our home, Kara reads aloud oodles of picture books on a
variety of topics in the morning after breakfast and/or in the
afternoon after lunch. Five in Row: Volumes 1, 2, and 3 by Jane
Claire Lambert (Five in a Row Publishing, 1997) suggests many
great titles to help you start this habit and how to use them to
enhance your learning and relationship. Usually, Kara has one
longer book in progress at the same time. In addition to reading
the Bible, Steve reads aloud chapter books in the evening before
bed. Our family also has a routine, quiet reading time in the
afternoon when the little ones are napping. This hour gives
everyone an opportunity to read books of his choice from our
family bookshelves. Much learning occurs during this unstructured
time. Implementing these habits will vary greatly from home to
home, but the necessity is the same. Read aloud, read together,
read individually, read often, and discuss what you read.

Establishing habits of family Bible reading and family worship,
reading aloud together, and reading independently doesn’t sound
like most "getting started homeschooling" articles, does it?
Should families that don’t homeschool incorporate these habits
into daily life too? That’s right! Ultimately, homeschooling
simply is discipling children through life. The richer we make
our home’s family culture, the richer our children’s educational
experiences will be. The more foundational God’s Word is to our
day-to-day life, the better we will obey the Lord.

CHOOSING CURRICULUM

In A Biblical Home Education Ruth Beechick writes,

Teaching children at home does not have to be as difficult as
people make it by trying to follow too much of the world’s
schooling system that has developed layer upon layer over the
years. We can peel away excess layers by the one great principle
of viewing language learning as different from the content
subjects. Language includes speaking, reading, writing,
listening, and thinking. These are skills to use for learning
Bible and all other content subjects. That is more effective and
more efficient than adding layers of skill classes.

Most homeschoolers think that the how-to’s of homeschooling begin
with choosing and using curriculum. No matter what your style or
your preferences, there is probably a curriculum geared toward
your family, but unless you wrote it, it won’t fit your family
perfectly. How do you choose? That is the wrong initial question.
Your first question should be, "What, if any, curriculum do we
need?" We have already discussed reading as a way to learn in the
content areas. Did you realize that as we read, we also teach
skills to our children?

Most language skills are easily integrated into our reading
times. Learn more about something God created; for example,
dolphins. Read books about dolphins and copy from those books.
Make a list of new words and write new stories about a dolphin.
Each child can participate at his ability level. Young children
copy one or two words and dictate a story to you. Older children
do additional research in an encyclopedia and write a report. The
littlest ones may learn the sound of d for dolphin. Better yet,
read and copy from the Scripture your family reads. Make a little
booklet about how it applies to your home. Have the older
children look up cross references and memorize verses. Make
illustrated signs of Bible verses to post around the house as
reminders.

PURCHASING WISELY

If you decide to buy additional curricular materials, refrain
from purchasing your entire set of materials for the year at one
time. Spending your entire budget locks you into something that
may or may not fit the needs of your family. Your needs may
change through the year. No curriculum or set of materials is so
crucial to your homeschooling that you have no other choices. If
you and your children enjoy using something particular, it can be
helpful. On the other hand, don’t feel bound by a curriculum just
because you spent money on it. Sell it on a used curriculum board
on the Internet or at a used curriculum fair and move onto
something else.

Consider the time you have available to spend one-on-one with
your children. Decide what skills you would like your children to
learn and look for materials that will make up for any
inabilities you may have. For example, since our time is limited,
our family uses some self-teaching tools to teach arithmetic and
mathematics, enabling the children to learn independently. We
also purchased a typing curriculum for our older children to use
unaided. We use these products during our "table time" in the
late morning. Your family will have different strengths and
goals.

One of the worst approaches homeschoolers fall into is simply to
look at what the government school teaches and assume that
standard rather than making informed decisions that fit their
family’s values and circumstances. For example, just because the
schools are teaching grammar every year for twelve years doesn’t
mean this is the best approach. (For further discussion of that
topic, read Ruth Beechick’s article in the January/February 2007
issue of Homeschooling Today magazine.)

Many parents fear teaching a child to read. But think about that
fear. You read. If you read, you certainly can teach someone else
to read. For children under the age of ten, The Three R’s by Ruth
Beechick (Mott Media, 2006) is a wonderful resource for parents
to learn how to use natural methods to teach reading, writing,
and arithmetic. Most of the ideas I’ve shared came from
Beechick’s book. These and other family-friendly, home-centered,
simple resources are usually best. If you decide you need a
curriculum, find an inexpensive one that isn’t time consuming.

THE BOTTOM LINE ON CURRICULUM

You can use curriculum materials to supplement the healthy home
habits you have already established. Some curricular materials
can even enhance the habits you are striving to establish. After
your family worship and Bible time, family and individual reading
times, building a rich family culture, and working on skills in
the context of life, you can fill any leftover time with a
subject curriculum you enjoy. If you would rather plant a garden
or make homemade bread or deliver meals to those in need, feel
free to do that. When the Murphys aren’t traipsing around the
United States meeting homeschoolers, our family likes to listen
to music, look at great works of art, tramp around outside, draw,
and make and play games. Your family will have other interests
and callings. Pursue them to the glory of God.

HOMESCHOOLING TODAY MAGAZINE CAN HELP

Our "Bookshelf and Beyond" department in every issue presents
reviews of a variety of books and curriculum, old and new, to
offer subscribers specific suggestions. We focus on family-
friendly materials we have seen work. Before we began publishing
the magazine, those reviews were a great source of help,
encouragement, and information for our family. We believe that
you will find Homeschooling Today magazine a rich source of help
to your family too.

While we can’t advise the best math curriculum for your ten-year-
old, we can’t offer legal advice, we are not experts in family
conflict resolution, and we can’t diagnose your child’s learning
disability, we can answer some questions to help you in the
sacred calling of discipling your children. If you want to ask a
question you think we can answer, please contact us. Go to
www.homeschoolingtoday.com/Contact, choose Questions & Comments
for your subject line and we will answer as quickly as we can.
May God bless your family as you begin this exciting adventure.